Through the Ages
by peacelight24
Summary: Short, transcribed versions of scenes from certain episodes throughout the series. Each chapter contains a series worth of scenes describing the relationship between Gibbs and Tony, from the former's POV. Completely cannon, so definitely NOT SLASH. I do not own NCIS, or any of the characters or episodes.
1. Chapter 1: Season 1

**Through the Ages**

**Chapter 1: Season 1**

* * *

Gibbs only saw Tony fall out of the corner of his eye.

It was understandable really, because there was chaos in the plane, and Tony was, for all intents and purposes, an adult, so Gibbs really shouldn't have to be keeping an eye on him every second of every day, and whose idea was this plan again?

Oh, right. His.

Well it ended well. The suspect had been apprehended, the idiot soldier had been restrained, and DiNozzo had gotten his wish of being a weekend warrior and gone skydiving. All's well that ends well, and Gibbs was most definitely not going to acknowledge the near-paralyzing fear that had plagued him when it was still possible that his agent had fallen to his death. He absolutely refused to get attached to a man who would most likely leave in a few months anyways.

Gibbs smiled to himself. Tony had looked pretty sore when leaving the office. Hopefully that would teach him not to goof off at work.

* * *

Frankly, it wasn't that hard to figure out why DiNozzo was so excited about Puerto Rico.

It was a sun-town, and therefore would have many, many women in bikinis, which was about all the reason that DiNozzo needed to go there. Luckily, Gibbs was Gibbs, and he managed to restrain his eye roll when his agent continued to try and connive and wheedle out a reason to go there.

Inwardly, Gibbs shrugged. Someone needed to go there and see if it was possible to get a sword. DiNozzo was the best at persuasion, so long as he didn't want his suspect to be a witless pile of tears (that was his job), and Kate was still very new at this. Besides, DiNozzo worked well when he was on his own. There was no audience for him to try and impress.

Outwardly, he shut his agent up by allowing him to go. The conniving little bastard tried to negotiate. Gibbs turned away, as he couldn't contain the rolling of his eyes this time.

"It's not up for negotiation, DiNozzo."

"Yes, Boss," came the immediate answer. Gibbs smiled. A little.

* * *

"I know what this is, Boss."

Gibbs looked at his agent with a semi questioning look on his face. It was kind of obvious, wasn't it? "Ah, external fuel tank."

"A _three hundred and seventy_ _gallon_ external fuel tank," Tony corrected, "Off an F14 TomCat." Okay, Gibbs could admit it. He was a little surprised that it was DiNozzo who was offering this information, and without getting it from another source. "A few were converted into cam runs or cargo pods." He gestured to the fuel tank, "This one's a cargo pod." He finished and looked up expectantly.

Kate snapped a picture "I'm impressed."

_Me too_, Gibbs thought inwardly, but then again, not really. He wouldn't have hired DiNozzo if he thought he was an idiot. He didn't suffer fools. DiNozzo just did his very best to hide his intelligence, and succeeded well enough that it was strange to see it shine through. Kate rarely saw it, because the man spent most of his time acting like an idiot in front of her.

"Didn't become an NCIS agent yesterday Kate. As a matter of fact, tomorrow-"

"-it will have been two years." Gibbs finished, remembering as well. History would say that DiNozzo was going to be picking up and leaving soon, but he sounded so proud right now…maybe he wanted to stay. He certainly hadn't indicated otherwise.

"That's kind of touching, Gibbs. Remembering the day you hired me." And enter the village idiot.

Payback time. Besides, he couldn't let DiNozzo get away thinking Gibbs _liked_ him. It wouldn't be natural. "Yeah, well, seemed like a good idea at the time."

Tony gave him an affronted look which was promptly ignored. There was a body here, whether or not anyone else remembered.

"Duck, is it okay if I touch?"

* * *

"Nothing else of interest in her apartment except…"

Gibbs was getting annoyed now. "What?"

DiNozzo sat down slowly and gave him a very, very fleeting glance before gesturing to the computer screen. "She had a bottle of Escada on her dresser."

Gibbs looked away from his agent, surprise building. Normally, DiNozzo would have blurted that information out to get the up on Kate, in whatever little sibling rivalry competition they had going. Now, something was getting in the way of his ability to do his job.

That something was Agent Cassidy.

And that was _not_ alright.

"And Saied did have a key to her apartment but she did not have a key to his."

"Most women prefer their own beds." That was a bit cruel, but a wake up call was necessary. Kate gave Tony a victorious glance, and Gibbs assumed he had walked into a previous conversation of theirs. "She and Saied were doing a horizontal salsa." Okay, so now he was just blatantly provoking him.

"Not according to the bartender." Tony reminded him. He was doing a very good job of keeping his feelings in check, but he was still defending Cassidy.

Worse, his own gut was telling him that Tony was right.

Well, the others didn't need to know that.

"What, lovers register with him at Gitmo first?"

"Bartenders know this kind of stuff Boss. He said she went there most nights, danced with a lot of guys, but, always went home alone." He said, as if that should be conclusive evidence.

He hadn't taken DiNozzo for the type to fall hard. Maybe it just took the right girl.

However, so long as DiNozzo was on his team, the 'right girl' would not be an agent.

He let Kate describe Saied's place without really hearing it. He had to figure out what to say to DiNozzo. This couldn't continue. Not now, not ever.

He did hear it, when Tony stepped in again. "I think Saied copied Cassidy's key without her knowing." DiNozzo's last ditch attempt to defend Cassidy, and even though Gibb's thought he was probably right, he pretended otherwise.

Gibbs didn't like doing this. He didn't like tearing at his agent's feelings, especially an agent who rarely felt so deeply for others.

But nothing good could possibly come from this relationship. It was better to cut your losses.

"And which brain is thinking that, DiNozzo?" The words were cruel, but they needed to be said.

A brief flash of hurt entered his eyes, before anger rolled in like a thunderstorm. Gibbs wasn't surprised. Tony had a nasty temper, but he controlled it well.

Even so, Gibbs was a little surprised at the depth of this anger before he realized that he had insulted DiNozzo's ability to do the job, which was one of the few things his insecurities didn't cover.

Well damn. That wasn't good.

Tony stood, and said, "I'm hitting the rack." Before slamming the chair down, the only physical sign of his anger, and walking out of the room.

Gibbs watched him for a few steps, and then handed Kate the laptop. "Get this up to Abby, Kate."

"You know Gibbs," She started, "Sometimes you can be a real-"

"Bastard?" He supplied. His anger not abated yet.

She nodded, "Yes."

He let half a sigh out, "Yeah, well my gut's telling me that Cassidy is telling the truth."

Kate looked confused and a little angry. "So then what's the problem?"

Gibbs stopped rifling through papers and looked up at her. It was an important lesson that needed to be taught. "Romance between agents, Kate, it never works."

Kate wasn't ready to give it up. "You speaking from experience?"

He might like Kate, but he wasn't going to share his past with her. He simply leveled a glare in her general direction.

She seemed to get the message.

He watched her walk away, a little seedling of regret pinching his stomach.

_It's for the best._

* * *

They stood a way off, watching the medic tend to Kate. The blankness in her face was visible, even from this distance, and that was disturbing.

"We gotta do something Boss." Tony said, a little desperation coloring his voice.

Gibbs didn't look at him, and tried to figure out how to phrase this right. "Have you ever made a mistake, Tony?"

"According to you or me?" Was the immediate response.

Gibbs smiled a little. Trust Tony to need clarity on a question like this. "You."

"…Yeah."

The investigator in him wanted to know what gave his voice the hesitancy Gibbs heard there. Tony was usually explicitly forthcoming (to the point that Gibbs had far too much detail as far as the man's sex life) so whatever it was must have been terrible. He had a few good guesses.

"Could anyone make you feel better?"

He could see that Tony understood.

"…No."

They shared a look of understanding and Tony walked away into the snowy evening, before Gibbs remembered that the man had nowhere to sleep.

"My door's unlocked." Well he couldn't have him sleeping in the office for the next week. It was probably against regulation anyway.

Tony didn't even turn around. "I know."

Well that solved one problem. He looked towards Kate, and the absolute helplessness that she portrayed.

And there lay another.

* * *

Gibb's attention was pulled over to his agents when he heard his name.

"Shouldn't we ask Gibbs?" Kate asked.

"He's busy," Tony replied.

He could almost see the confusion on Kate's face, "Doing what?"

"What he does every night," Tony said easily.

He heard Kate hesitate, then follow Tony out of the office. Meanwhile, Gibbs's brow furrowed. When had DiNozzo gotten to know him so well? Then again, his behavior _was_ pretty predictable concerning this matter. If Kate would rely on instinct rather than her profiling skills to read people she probably would have figured it out as well.

He stared as the faces of terrorists sped by on the screen. None of them were his man.

Kate seemed…alright. Definitely not off, by any means. Almost…unaffected, which was strange, considering the fact that she was a hostage.

Ducky was mad. Plain and simple, and he had a right to be. Not only had he been a hostage, but his assistant had been shot, and the use of his arm would be a long road indeed. Thephrase_, I want him on my table, Jethro_, was not for show. Ducky was as bloodthirsty as Ducky got.

And then there was DiNozzo. Out of all of them, he seemed the least affected, which made sense. He wanted to catch the bad guy, but for him it wasn't personal. Not like it was for Gibbs.

However, he was also the most understanding. Tony knew what it was to have your sights set on a scumbag so hard that the rest of the world fades. His years as a cop had undoubtedly taught him that, and Gibbs was glad that he had convinced Kate not to ask him to come to dinner with them. She meant well, but the road to hell was paved with good intentions, and he had no plans to drag his agents with him.

He watched the faces tick by and reran the program when it came up empty.

* * *

Gibbs stepped off the elevator, Tony and Kate two steps behind him.

Instead of taking his usual path to his desk, though, he stopped at agent Pacci's uncannily neat one.

Tony set down his bag behind him. "God, Chris was so anal." He said quietly, a note of wistfulness in his voice. "Borrowed his stapler once, put it back in the wrong place. Heard about it for days." He finished with a laugh.

Gibbs knew that Tony had been good friends with Pacci and felt for the younger man. It was hard to lose another agent, and Pacci would by no means be the last.

He turned on the light, and looked over the desk. "Give me his keys," he demanded. Tony produced them and handed them over.

Gibbs quickly unsealed the bag and opened the drawers, when he found the six hour.

Why would Pacci leave his weapon here?

Kate spoke first. "Regs are you have to carry your weapon from portal to portal. Why did he leave his here?"

Tony turned toward the window and looked too distracted to give the answer. Gibbs took it upon himself.

"He was tailing somebody. Going from place to place, he didn't want to stop to identify himself or risk setting off an alarm."

Tony nodded behind him. "We've all done it, especially with the heavy security these days."

Gibbs nodded, that should be a satisfactory explanation, "I'll go over his case files. You two check out his house."

"Tonight?" Kate asked, incredulity in all over her face and dripping from her voice.

What did she think this was? An _agent_ was _murdered_. What could possibly be more important?

"Yes, tonight." He ordered gruffly.

Kate backed off immediately, "I just gotta make a call." She said, before scurrying off suitably chastised.

But not before giving Tony a strange look of incredulity.

"Is there anyone you need to call, DiNozzo?" He asked, his anger building. Why couldn't they understand that this was _more important?_

"No Boss." He answered as he took the house keys. "No calls."

So maybe one of them did understand. Tony walked away calmly, with a strange understanding light in his eyes.

Immediately, Gibbs remembered what the second _b_ stood for.

DiNozzo, at least, knew how to avenge one o his own. He had too much understanding of the subject for mere sympathy. That look only came from experience.

It was a few moments before Gibbs went back to work.

* * *

Gibbs looked up from Kate's sketch to the unwelcome sight of Tony flirting with the bar waitress.

"DiNozzo…" He growled, "He's about a step from vanishing himself," he told Kate, who smiled. "Hey!" He yelled to his idiot coworker.

Tony looked over and waved goodbye to the waitress, a stupid grin on his face as he walked over.

"I got her name, Boss." The man said proudly.

This was not the time, nor the place. "Do I look like I care, DiNozzo?" He sighed. There was no changing this man. "Lets go."

But as he was walking away, DiNozzo opened his mouth. "The woman with Atlas, her name was Carol Powers."

Gibbs stopped walking and turned back to his previously idiotic agent, surprise probably written all over his face.

"I got the waitress to remember that she paid using a credit card." Tony then proceeded to hand the receipt over to his boss and waited for Gibbs to acknowledge. When Gibbs still said nothing, he continued on to his next bit of info. "She's a reporter for the post. Can have her at our office in an hour if you're interested."

Well. It may be a bit…unorthodox as far as investigative methods go, but clearly it worked for DiNozzo.

It hit him again that his agent was actually very intelligent when he chose to be, and not for the first time Gibbs wondered what made Tony wear a mask of idiocy so often. It was times like these that made him remember why he had hired Tony.

"Good job." He said in answer, and walked away.

* * *

When he heard the phone ring, he answered it immediately. He might not admit it, but he had a bad feeling about this whole undercover operation. DiNozzo was not getting hurt because he had let the phone ring twice. That was just unacceptable.

"Hey," He said.

"Gibbs." Tony replied, a small amount of worry in his voice.

"What's up?"

"Sacco just left the bar," there was a pause, and Tony's voice was slurred when he spoke again, "Ah…Ah…I'm not feelin so well."

For a second, Gibbs wondered if Tony were drunk. Then he realized that Tony never would have done that on the job, especially when tailing a marine.

And the 'bad feeling' in his gut intensified to 'insane worry'.

"Tony?" He asked, "You okay?"

Kate looked up.

"I think…I think I screwed up Boss." Tony said quietly, before he heard a crash that was presumably the phone dropping to the ground.

"Hey, DiNozzo can you hear me?"

No answer.

"Hey! Tony!" Worry mixed with his intuition to form a strange nausea.

He waited a full five seconds before calling again.

"Tony! Tony can you hear me?"

Kate now stood in front of his desk, worry written into the very lines of her face, but he was already halfway around it, shrugging into his jacket and attempting to get the idea of _move_ across using obscure arm movements.

"We're coming for you!" He yelled into the phone, before dragging Kate to the elevator by the arm.

Tony was _not_ going to be the next to leave NCIS's ranks unwillingly.

* * *

As Gibbs walked back to his desk, Tony barreled around the corner, and nearly hit him with his backpack, so intent was he in his haste to get out of the office.

The man hadn't even seen him.

Well that was odd. Tony noticed everything, from the subtle differences in a person's attire to the way people spoke. It was part of what made him a good agent, and more than that, it was what made him _Tony_.

So what had given him tunnel vision?

Gibbs watched him go, and watched as he punched the elevator button impatiently, before letting his gaze slide to the most likely instigator of such behavior.

Kate was smiling in her chair.

Gibbs frowned. Tony had seemed…honestly upset. What had they been talking about?

"What's wrong with DiNozzo?" He asked.

Kate looked up, radiating smugness, "He's conflicted."

Gibbs didn't buy that, but let it go. Kate relied on her profiling skills to read people, and was just barely starting to use her own intuition. She still thought that Tony had the emotional capacity of a five year old. In some ways that was true, but it bothered Gibbs a little that she hadn't thought to look deeper.

Oh well. Tony was a big boy. He would be fine by morning, and as Kate worked with him more, she would hopefully one day come to see him a little more clearly.

As it stood now…he had a terrorist to find.

* * *

He wasn't pleased.

There was a terrorist to find, there had been no progress since the day he had started his search and he had two agents missing.

He hated failure.

Quickly confirming that Kate hadn't spoken to Agent Cassidy, he began to worry. The dream from the night before came back invading his mind.

Cassidy's call to Tony made him bristle.

That was another thing that went under the not pleased category. He realized that some things had to be learned from experience, and when it came down to it, DiNozzo wouldn't let anything get in the way of his job, but that didn't make him any less angry.

When he turned around and saw DiNozzo standing there, stupid grin on his face, it really didn't help matters.

"Hey Boss." Tony said cheerfully, as if he wasn't wading through proverbial dog shit. "Ah…McGee said you wanted to see me." He cleared his throat uncomfortably. He felt a small rush of satisfaction at this, but it wasn't nearly enough. "Actually he said I was under house arrest, but I figured that was just your way of making a point."

_Making a point?_ What, did he think this was a joke? Did he think that _Gerald_ thought it was a joke? The man was still in rehab!

He stood up and walked past his agent, "Do I have to tell you the name of the creek you're up without a paddle? Or how deep it is?"

The response was instant, "About up to my knees?"

Gibbs's anger rose again. Why did he sound so unconcerned? Obviously he had been far too soft with Tony recently.

"Ah, so you're familiar with this creek?"

"Boss, I'm sorry I took a long lunch but I'm not working a hot case-"

Hot case? _Hot case? _"What's a 'hot case' to you, DiNozzo? Shadowing a tight ass?" His voice was rising. He didn't really care. Truthfully, he hadn't really found an intimidation tactic that worked on DiNozzo. Usually holding his job over his head was good enough, but he got the feeling that DiNozzo had had a lot of people try and intimidate him throughout his life, and Gibbs seriously doubted anything had worked.

"Boss that's not really fair-"

Not _fair_? "_War_ is not fair. And we are _at war_." For some reason, DiNozzo wasn't really looking ashamed right now, more…sympathetic. Which, of course, did nothing to subdue his anger. "Until I relieve you, which may be any moment now," DiNozzo looked away, which was a good idea, because otherwise Gibbs would have fired him just to prove he could. "You will fight that war 24/7. that includes sleeping, eating and taking a crap, you got it?"

DiNozzo's responses were always instant, "I got it, may I say something?"

He really didn't sound apologetic. "Only if it has to do with me catching that bastard I'm chasing." As far as intimidation tactics went, the in-your-face method was always a good fall back.

"It does."

Really? Well why hadn't he said so before? "Then speak."

DiNozzo took a deep breath, looked his superior in the eye and calmly said, "Boss, you really need to see Moby Dick." And walked away.

Well, so much for intimidation.

It was too bad the agent had walked away. He was seriously considering firing him.

Moby Dick, huh? That was funny. He was being compared to Captain Ahab, the man so intent on his target that he drowned his ship.

There were worse things.

He watched DiNozzo walk back to his desk and shook his head in disbelief.

There were very few people who could stand up to an angry Gibbs and hold their own.

* * *

_a/n-Well if you made it this far, I should congratulate you. As you've probably figured out, these are scenes taken from actual episodes. It's all between Gibbs and Tony, with the other characters thrown in for effect. These are by no means the only scenes that potray these characters well, but they're the ones that I thought would be a good model for the S1 Gibbs and Tony. If you have any suggestions, feel free to message me._

_Oh, and if Gibbs seems a bit OOC here, that's probably because he is. For some reason I seem to channel a more 'Tony' personality when writing Gibbs. Oh well. Ducky did say they were rather a lot alike, in our favorite ex-marine (there's no such thing) sniper's younger days._

_The episodes go like this from top to bottom:_

_Hung out to Dry_

_The Immortals_

_The Curse_

_Minimum Security_

_Left for Dead_

_The Truth is Out There_

_Dead Man Talking_

_Missing_

_Missing (yes, twice. It was just too good to pass up)_

_Split Decision_

_Reveillie_


	2. Chapter 2: Season 2

Any day that Gibbs took his team to the gym was fun. At least, it was for him.

For one thing, he got to check up on his team's progress in what he called 'practical skills'. Never mind that it was advanced fighting techniques that he was teaching them. If it would help protect his team, then there was little else that mattered.

For another, he got to have a good laugh at whoever got paired up with Kate.

Today it was McGee who got that privilege. Lord knows he needed the training. The man barely passed basic.

Also on the schedule today: Hand to hand with DiNozzo.

The fact that this man had entirely too much energy and not enough constructive outlets was a truth impressed upon Gibbs daily, but he couldn't help but be reminded (yet again) when the man was jumping around like a monkey. If nothing else, Tony could simply tire his opponents out with excessive displays of energy.

Well. Tony said that he had been taking boxing lessons. It was time to see if they were money well spent.

He started off on the easier side of things. Granted, they were blows that McGee never would have blocked, but Tony was significantly more skilled in all things pertaining to the physical than McGee.

And unfortunately, Gibbs knew exactly how experienced in some of those matters his senior field agent was. He had overheard one too many of Tony's bragging sessions come Monday morning.

Quickly, the difficulty of the blows increased. Tony blocked them all.

He nodded in satisfaction to himself. "Not bad, DiNozzo."

"Thanks," came the easy reply.

It was then that Gibbs realized that Tony hadn't gone for a single offensive blow, which was unlike the younger man in the extreme. Tony was always the one to rush in without thinking things through properly. Not that he wasn't _capable_, simply that he was impulsive.

He frowned. If Tony had decided to see what Gibbs had in store for him, then he was probably in the mood to learn something today.

_Hm_… he thought, _I can work with that_.

"So," DiNozzo hedged, "Did you learn boxing in the marines?"

He grinned on the outside, but inwardly Gibbs was full of questions. Tony had been interested about his past lately. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact it indicated that Tony was willing to put down roots here at NCIS, which was an idea that he suspected had never occurred to the other man before.

But why now? What had changed?

At any rate, it was time to deliver the lesson. It seemed that DiNozzo needed the reminder anyway.

"Nope," He said, still grinning, "Marines don't teach boxing."

He could practically hear the question forming in Tony's mind, but before the other man could even think about opening his mouth (which was an impressive feat of speed in and of itself), he cut DiNozzo down with a quick sweep to the back of his legs and a hand at the other man's throat.

"They teach _fighting_."

He needed Tony to understand that. The entire team really, but especially Tony. The man was smart, but he was also impulsive, and he was typically the one who needed these types of skills more than any other, as he was always, always, the one in life threatening hostage situations or kidnappings. Now that he thought about it, Tony's actions usually spoke less of impulsiveness, and more of an intense desire to protect his teammates. He was always trying to be the first into a dangerous situation and the last to leave it, and he tended to gravitate toward the more dangerous jobs (like undercover work). It made Gibbs want to shake the other man. What had happened to the man's self preservation instincts?

If Tony didn't realize soon that these skills would save his life one day, then he was going to give his boss a heart attack. And he wasn't old enough to have a heart attack, no matter _what_ DiNozzo tried to say to the contrary.

He saw Tony's eyes gain that light that always threw people who thought they had him pegged. Intelligence shone there, as well as understanding.

Gibbs didn't smile, but he knew he didn't need to. His student was learning, his apprentice of sorts continuing with his wisdom departed.

Gibbs was satisfied.

* * *

He pulled over as soon as the GPS winked out.

"You lost him." It wasn't a question or a statement. It was a warning.

"I lost him too." Abby said. Her voice was a little distorted by the mike, but he could still hear the concern leaking through.

This situation was all too familiar.

_Dammit DiNozzo. Why is it always you?_

* * *

There was blood in the car. Far, far too much blood.

Well at least Kate would be happy about being right. He was definitely worried about Tony now.

And it didn't help that the man wasn't moving.

He walked up close enough to see that Jefferies was dead, sprawled in the backseat and with a bullet through his forehead.

He wasn't sure about what he would feel if DiNozzo was dead. There was definitely enough blood in the car to account for two men.

Gibbs had never been one to delay the inevitable though. He opened the door.

Tony was covered in blood. His hair had ruby red droplets scattered throughout, and his shirt was sprayed with it.

But there was no torrent of red running from his throat. No puddle of blood on his shirt.

Any lasting fears for his subordinate's safety were assuaged when the younger man looked up at him. His eyes were sad, melancholy, and missing whatever element that he possessed that made Tony…_Tony_.

"I really liked him, Boss."

This was a hard lesson to learn. Every investigator learned, at some point or another, that sometimes the dirt bags were just as much a victim as the ones that ended up on slabs. That, at the end of the day, the suspects were human too.

But DiNozzo was far to experienced in this line of work to let that interfere with his duty. And he was far too experienced to not have learned this lesson before.

Of course, this time he had been on his own, and hadn't had a team to lean on. Not to mention that the suspect had obviously tried to kill him, and he had returned the favor in self defense.

However, it wasn't Gibb's job to coddle his agents. It was his job to make sure they were going to be alright. And for Tony, the best way to do that was through humor.

"Yeah…Yeah I can see that."

For a moment he thought he had misjudged the situation. DiNozzo simply looked at him, that same gleam of sadness and…regret shining through.

And then DiNozzo nodded, and looked back to his weapon, uncharacteristically not saying a word.

He was going to be alright.

* * *

If it were anyone else, he would have tossed them out of the chair and into the elevator, making it clear under no uncertain terms that they were now in the market for a new job.

As it was, it wasn't anyone else.

It was, of course, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.

And he wasn't doing anything. At all. Not even sleeping.

He decided that plan A could still be applicable if DiNozzo didn't have a _damn_ good excuse.

He listened as his other two agents reported the meager supply of information they had collected, but was unimpressed. They were looking for a murderer. Who did they think they were going to catch with that load of crap?

Gibbs even didn't say anything. Simply turned his gaze to the lax agent, and waited for him to either show himself out or give up the info.

"Package was addressed to a Petty Officer Second Class Benjamin Horlocker," He added an inflection to the name to make it sound German, "Stationed at DamNac, currently on a 72…"

It didn't end.

Tony gave up every single detail of the man's life, inserting snide comments to Kate here and there before finishing with the missed cable bill.

Gibbs grinned and took the file before glancing at his agent. He knew the man was smart. Knew he was resourceful. The man had a natural curiosity (much to Kate's dismay) of everything, and sharp instincts to match. The man's computer skills were probably only marginally better than Gibbs's own, but as he had just proved (cue contrite, spluttering McGee), that wasn't everything.

Tie it all together, and he was the best investigator that Gibbs had ever seen.

But Tony's ego really didn't need that much of a boost. Besides, he knew that the other man was an unusually good judge of Gibbs's own character and had an odd insight into his thoughts. Tony knew how grateful he was to have him on the team. He didn't need Gibbs to tell him.

"Good to know somebody's working around here."

DiNozzo yawned in response, and Gibbs nearly laughed out loud at the absolutely dumbstruck look on Kate and McGee's faces. Both of whom immediately followed up on their previous info. Kate with a dead end and McGee with…

"Paraguay?" DiNozzo asked, slight surprise coloring his tone, "TBA. That's the Tri-Border Area. That's were Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil meet." Gibbs didn't need to hear any more, but he would listen anyway. He grabbed his gun and badge. "It's the base of operations for smugglers, drug dealers, human trafficking, illegal organ trafficking-"

Sensing an oncoming tangent (because once this man got on one of those, he didn't _stop_), Gibbs cut him off. "-And Al Qaida cells."

He brushed past McGee, and silently wondered why DiNozzo didn't display his intelligence more often.

Then again, he always did seem to drop about a hundred IQ points whenever in Kate's immediate vicinity.

Speaking of which, he could hear her snipping at Tony now. Sighing, Gibbs shook his head. Kate had a lot to learn about DiNozzo if she still thought that there was only playboy magazines stuffed between the ears.

But he grinned when he heard DiNozzo's response.

"Work smarter not harder, Katy."

An excellent maxim, if he did say so himself.

* * *

"Who opened the envelope?"

"He did!" Tony pointed to McGee childishly, legs swinging out from beneath him.

The man in the hazmat suit and mask stalked up to Gibbs's newest agent.

"What?-No, it wasn't me!" McGee pleaded.

"I was kidding," Tony said before jumping off the table. "I'm your pincushion."

The man turned to Tony, and unlike the intimidation approach he had used with McGee, the man stood at a more respectful distance. Like so many others, he seemed to realize that Tony had absolutely no capacity (tolerance) for intimidation.

"Did you inhale any powder?" the man asked.

The joking demeanor left Tony's face, "I might have."

"We took blood." The doctor offered. "Jimmy?"

Palmer fumbled with the papers he held in that overly clumsy way of his. "I have four more vials to go."

Kate sneezed.

The entire room stopped to look at her.

"It's a cold," She explained. "I had it before I came in this morning."

"Which makes you even more susceptible to airborne pathogens." Ducky concluded, "You should go to the hospital too."

Kate immediately backtracked. "Oh no-"

Gibbs was having none of this. No one was going to go without care here. "Kate, you play it safe. Go with Tony."

She scoffed, "_That's_ safe?"

Gibbs just jerked his head towards the door.

She resigned herself to fate. "How long are we going to have to stay in isolation?"

"Depends on a number of things." The nameless man answered vaguely.

"Do you have double beds, coz I hate it when you get that crease when you push the two twin-"

Gibbs could take a lot of crap from DiNozzo, but this? Today? When he might be dying, infected with the unknowable?

When Gibbs couldn't help him?

Not. Today.

The headslap was normally enough to shut Tony up for at least five seconds, earning a short period of blessed silence. However, today, Tony just switched his train of thought.

"-If I get anthrax, how will you feel?"

It was asked jokingly, meant as a teasing comment, but Tony had never really been able to hide behind his humor. Not from Gibbs.

It was a serious question. In his own way, Tony was just as susceptible to the ancient fear of being not important enough to remember after death.

No one who met Tony and spent five minutes with him truly forgot about him.

Hence his answer: "Not as bad as you, DiNozzo."

Tony seemed to accept this and allowed himself to be herded out the door with Kate, the two of them bickering the entire time.

Gibbs sighed internally before wrenching his attention back to the matter at hand.

DiNozzo was terrified.

And because Tony was one of the bravest men that Gibbs had ever met, Gibbs was a little terrified too.

* * *

Kate walked out.

More like ran.

She was sobbing.

The last time Gibbs had seen her cry, even shed a few tears, she had just found out that her boyfriend was dead.

_No_. Tony would _not_ die.

"He's dying Ducky." She moaned.

He was not having this.

Where was their faith? Why did everyone underestimate Tony? Why didn't they understand that having someone believe in him was going to be the deciding factor? Tony would beat this thing so long as he had someone to fight for, so long as he had someone who cared enough to ask him to fight.

Tony had grown up completely alone. It made him crave attention, and it had destroyed his self-confidence. If he thought now, of all times, he didn't have anyone who would hold out a little hope for him, then he was going to be too crushed to fight this thing.

"Like _hell_ he is." Gibbs growled as he stormed past Ducky and Kate.

The doctor, the idiot doctor who had some kind of impressive name, got in his way.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, who the hell are you?"

"His boss," Gibbs said it slowly, spelling it out for the man, letting every ounce of authority that the title came with leak through. And not just on a professional level either. "Bug had a suicide chain. It's dead. Has been for an hour now. He's no longer infectious."

With that, Gibbs walked around the man. The doctors, seemingly understanding the fact that this moment was private, that they were not _needed_ or _wanted_, left.

And for the first time, for just a single moment, Gibbs allowed himself to picture what life without DiNozzo would be like. For the past four years, this man had been his right hand, and...he didn't like what he saw.

He would find McGee far more annoying.

Kate would become withdrawn. Quieter. More mature in some ways, regress in others.

There would be far less movie references.

His days would be far more predictable.

Quieter. Much quieter.

And the cornerstone that he had built his team around would be missing.c

The dependable right hand, the one with instincts sharp enough to rival his own, with investigative skills to make even him stop and stare in astonishment, and with a strength of character that sometimes made him pause in shock (for the sheer knowing that he had gotten there on his own), would be gone.

A very large part of Gibbs's very protected, fortified, buttressed heart gave a very large, very painful throb at the thought.

Horribly, he thought that he could get on without McGee. The man had good instincts. A sharp mind. MIT brilliant. But, he knew he would be able to get on without him on his team. He didn't like the idea, but…it was conceivable.

Kate even less so, but…if he had to…again, it was possible. If Tony was his right hand, Kate was his left. She was smart. Compassionate and kind. Sometimes she had terrible (and he meant _terrible_) instincts, but she was smart enough to adapt, and learn what she could. However…if he was forced to…if she was ripped away…he thought he could do it. Probably.

Somehow, he knew that he would only be able to pull that off if he had his right hand to compensate.

That settled it. Tony was not dying. Not today, nor any other day. Not for _this_. Not for a dying woman's last crusade against an imagined enemy. It was not happening.

He was aware, very aware, that Kate and Ducky were watching. Hoping beyond hope that Gibbs could pull off a miracle.

There was no need for them to be a part of this.

Hadn't he already said it? Tony needed someone to fight for. Someone who believed in him.

"Tony, listen to me," he paused, trying to find words. The man needed to know that this was not goodbye, that there was hope. He listened to Tony's labored breathing for a second before checking in, "You listening?"

The reply started out garbled, and it sounded like Tony was trying to speak around a brick wall. "I-I'm listening, Boss."

Boss.

Unlike Kate and McGee, Tony had never called him anything different.

That is, unless Navy Cop counted.

He could only imagine the pain that came with every breath the man took, but Gibbs knew that Tony could do it, that he could get through this.

Why was everyone so intent upon underestimating him? Giving up on him?

If Tony died, it was because he believed no one cared enough to hold out a little hope for him.

And he would hold everyone else responsible for that. Chief among them himself.

He had long since been a proponent of the direct approach. "You will not die." He whispered. Kate and Ducky were still watching. "Got that?"

The labored breathing was the only response. Somehow, Gibbs could imagine the reply.

_Well I'm not in the best of situations right now Boss, but I'll keep that in mind._

Gibbs gave him the accompanying head-slap. That line of thinking was just unacceptable.

Tony looked at him, a tiny bit of humor and a lot of incredulity shining in his eyes. He could imagine what Tony would be saying if he had half a chance: _Really? When I'm on my deathbed? Is now really the time?_

He would have given him another head-slap for that if something else wasn't infinitely more important.

"I said…You. Will not. Die." He whispered again.

Tony could read between the lines. He had gotten very, very good at it over the last four years. Incredibly good at reading Gibbs. Better at it than most of his ex-wives had been. He would understand this, would understand what Gibbs was offering him. Something-_someone_-to fight for.

Because Tony DiNozzo didn't fight for himself. He was the Phys. Ed. Major who had graduated and joined the police academy. He fought for others.

And in this, he would fight for Gibbs.

"I got you, Boss."

Gibbs grinned, "Good."

And that was all there was to say.

* * *

"You sure you're up for this?" Gibbs asked, a little worriedly. His agent still had dark rings around his eyes and he was a bit too lethargic for anything but deskwork. Gibbs, of course, had gone over a few times to check on him after he was deemed healthy enough to leave the hospital (he had tried to leave AMA but Gibbs wouldn't have it).

Tony responded immediately. "Never better, Boss."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He snapped.

Gibbs nearly grinned. However, his agent wasn't going anywhere when he was so obviously not fine. "You look like crap."

The direct approach. Always the best way to go.

There was a slight pause, and Gibbs was fairly certain that Tony was working to fight a smile as well. "I missed you too, Boss."

Gibbs frowned a little. Tony was dangerously close to putting himself in harm's way, and he was not going to have an incapacitated agent on his hands.

No matter how much he wanted him back.

Work had not been easy. McGee was still dealing with an irrational guilt that he had given Tony the plague, and Kate was still recovering from her own emotional trauma.

And then there was himself, who had grown frustrated with the sudden lack of fluidity within his team rather quickly.

It wasn't only McGee and Kate's personal issues that were getting in the way. It was the giant DiNozzo shaped hole where his SFA should be that was getting to him.

But then again, if Tony overdid it…

"You have another week of sick leave coming." He looked directly at his SFA. "You should take it."

He hoped that Tony understood that it wasn't for a lack of faith in his abilities that he was saying this. He hoped the man knew that it was out of genuine concern for his health that he was encouraging him to take sick leave.

And because he knew his SFA so well (and, oddly, vice versa), he knew that he did.

"I was going crazy at home." He sighed, "Maybe I'm not a hundred percent, but…you need me."

He was right. Gibbs had grown far too dependent on his loyal SFA in the last four years, and Tony's bought with the plague had proved that.

However, the man had plenty of inflated ego, at least in regard to his job. He didn't need the acknowledgement to know it was true.

"Okay," he conceded, "What about Kate and McGee? I'm sure they're practically lost without me."

Gibbs almost grinned. Almost.

Truth was, Tony wasn't far off. But if Gibbs knew his team (and he did), then they would have found something to be ticked at DiNozzo about.

It was best not to let Tony in on that.

"Got more work done in the last two weeks than they have all year."

Technically, it was true. However, they were barely keeping up with what Gibbs was used to seeing them do. Tony went to great pains to cover up how hard he worked, including coming in the middle of the night when he was supposedly making other 'conquests', as Kate had put it (if she had listened to Tony at all in the last two years she might realize that he had never, ever, put it in such terms). In all honesty, Tony usually got more work done in a week than Kate and McGee did in a month. Combined.

"They did miss me, right?"

Gibbs walked out of the elevator, but frowned internally. Tony sounded honestly worried about that.

Gibbs shrugged it off. Kate had risked infection just to stay with him. McGee had worked tirelessly for nearly 48 hours to try and find the culprit. Tony had to see that they cared, and if he didn't, then he wasn't using his head.

However, Tony did seem to need constant conformation on others' feelings concerning him.

"Yeah. Something like that."

"Can't wait to see their faces!"

Gibbs grinned. If Tony was back to acting childishly, then all was well.

* * *

His phone call was interrupted by McGee's shouting.

He didn't think he had ever, _ever_, heard McGee shout.

"It's the car!"

Kate wasn't far behind. "It's wired to-"

The explosion that cut her off made the rest of that sentence unnecessary.

Anger was his first reaction.

His crime scene was destroyed, and all he had left was a pile of smoking rubble.

Kate's desperate cry for his SFA ensured that his next reaction was cold fear.

People were running, chief among them Ducky and Palmer, and yet he couldn't move.

Had Tony really survived the plague only to die in an explosion?

Why, why hadn't he forced the man to stay home today?

When had he ever allowed Tony's stubbornness to eclipse his own?

And then the impossible happened.

Tony, his agent and goddamit his _friend_, climbed up from the ditch.

"Boss?" He asked. Gibbs couldn't imagine what the man was trying to speak for. It was all too obvious that he was in pain. "Remember when I said I never felt better?" Suddenly, it became very evident that Tony was quickly loosing the battle with his own pain.

"I lied." He groaned.

And collapsed.

* * *

a/n-well, there you have it. Season two really wasn't the best season for Gibbs/Tony episodes. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of character development, especially with McGee, but it wasn't focused on any one relationship. Actually, I'm pretty sure that they did the SWAK episode and Twilight so close together simply because it would confuse the people watching into thinking it was Tony who was going to die, not Kate. Grr. I hate it when that happens.

So if you have any scene suggestions that you feel I should add, let me know. Reviews are always appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3: Season 3

"…In a hundred and forty year-old cast iron sarcophagus."

Gibbs paused. That was different.

"Dressed as a Union soldier?"

McGee nodded, "Basically, yes."

Hmm…well, he hated to ask it, knowing that Tony's relationship with his father was far from pleasant, but he would be at a significant advantage for this case because of it.

Not to mention, the kid obviously needed a wake-up call if he was still trying to impress Ziva.

His guilt disappeared pretty quickly after that thought.

He threw the keys to his previously-newest agent. "Gas the truck, McGee."

The young agent nodded dutifully, "Yes, Boss."

Gibbs grit his teeth and didn't hesitate. "DiNozzo!"

Tony, who had been standing by the window looking something over, wheeled around immediately, "Yeah Boss!"

Gibbs phrased his words carefully, not wanting to surprise Tony too much. "Got a murder in your area of expertise."

Tony, oddly enough, did not look surprised, or even moderately confused. He instead adopted a look of expectancy that Gibbs had seen him wear around him only once or twice. The last of which being the day he told that punk who had been a suspect in the bulldog case that he was a Mormon.

And to make Tony's behavior even stranger, he did not turn to Gibbs, but to Ziva.

"This happens a lot, me being a Senior Field Agent," Tony bragged.

"I'm sure it does," Ziva replied evenly. So she was still trying to make friends. Gibbs wondered how long that would last.

Gibbs also wondered how long Ziva would be a distraction to Tony. And how long he would feel intimidated by her. Probably a while, if history had anything to say. Tony had taken an exceptionally long time to get over Agent Cassidy, who was the only other woman Gibbs could remember him needing to impress so much.

But Ziva was not Agent Cassidy, and so long as she was on this team, Tony would need to work with her. And work with her _well_. So there was no harm in popping his ego a little bit.

Tony turned to him, finally. "So what do we got, Boss? Homicide?"

"No."

Tony's smile faltered a little, "Gang-related?"

Gibbs stood. "No."

Tony was as close to frowning as Tony ever came. "Defenestration?"

How, exactly, was that an area of expertise? Then again, Tony would probably be exceptionally good at it if the situation ever required it. "No." Maybe he should have phrased this differently, considering the volatile relationship Tony had with his father. "Civil War."

Tony didn't say anything for a moment, and Gibbs could see him visibly restrain himself from glaring. Yeah, he probably should have phrased that better.

"I can hardly wait," Gibbs could tell Tony was having trouble retaining his lighthearted mood. "It's my favorite subject," He choked out.

* * *

"You really think that the FBI would arrest a man, and leave his kid in a park, DiNozzo?" He turned toward his agent, honestly curious as to why Tony would even suggest it.

The man didn't even look perturbed by the prospect. "Maybe the commander took a walk." Tony's eyes, while still sharp, seemed to lose focus. "My father left me in the Maui Hilton once for two days. Didn't even realize I was missing until he got the room service bill."

Gibbs had heard that story before, but was surprised that Tony was reiterating it so publicly. Ziva and McGee were literally right behind them, and he knew that Ziva was listening.

Except last time he heard it, Tony had barely been able to talk about it. Now, he was throwing it out for everyone to hear.

It was a good thing, Gibbs decided.

If Tony could speak about things like this…if he was starting to trust the team more…then he really was healing.

Gibbs smiled at the prospect.

"Sad." Ziva proclaimed, "But enlightening."

Gibbs wanted to smile again.

He knew that Ziva wasn't referring to his more…annoying tendencies. Ziva was a spy, trained to collect information. She was also trained to read people like a book. It was probably why she intimidated Tony so much. She was one of the only people who had the ability to see through all of his crap to the real DiNozzo. That was also the reason Tony had been so irritated when McGee had given Ziva his life story. But that Ziva actually considered such information to be enlightening…It meant she was actually seeing 'the real Tony,' which was odd, considering he himself had once been the only person able to do so.

McGee, now that he thought about it, seemed to understand Tony pretty well too. For all the crap that Tony put the poor man through, it was amazing that Tim had stayed. Luckily, McGee had seemed to realize that Tony was simply trying to see if he could hack it by being as annoying as possible.

Looking back though, between him scaring the living daylight out of the man every time he spoke (though that had at least gone away somewhat since McGee had grown used to it), and Tony's pranks, it was a wonder that the poor man hadn't had a nervous breakdown. No wonder he gravitated toward the girls so much. Kate and Abby, at least, hadn't hazed him in quite the same way.

And Kate, much as he missed her, and much as he would never really be able to find fault with her, had had a very difficult time reading Tony. He remembered being disappointed that she couldn't see past the masks he threw up so much. It wasn't until the end, when Tony had the freaking plague, that she had started to see his true character.

Ziva, it would seem, did not have the same problem.

Maybe this whole liaison thing would work out after all.

* * *

"…and don't worry, Tony, the chances of even one of your teeth matching are, like, 100,000 to one."

Tony looked far more relaxed at that statement, not that he had been particularly worried before. Gibbs thought it a good indication for his innocence that he wasn't nervous even when he turned out to be the number one suspect in the case.

Not that he had ever really suspected Tony. There was no doubt in his mind that Tony was innocent.

Time to put this stupid theory out to pasture.

"Do it, Abby."

The forensic scientist nodded and went to work. Soon, Gibbs saw each one of Tony's digital teeth line up with the bite mark on the victim's leg.

Wait…what?

Because there was no way Tony did this. Easily sidetracked and sometimes annoyingly energetic, yes. A killer? Not a chance. Gibbs would know. He would feel it in his gut. And if there was one thing he was certain of, it was that Tony was, at the root of it all, a good man. Once, he had even thought he would make a good marine. That was about the highest honor Gibbs could grant _anyone_.

And the look on Tony's face-confusion, disbelief, sudden concern-only made him more certain.

And more afraid.

* * *

Thinking about it, there were _a lot_ of people that Tony could have out to get him.

He had been a cop for six years before NCIS. Professionally, every successful case Tony had was a potential opening for an enemy. And that wasn't even accounting for his personal life.

If DiNozzo really called women baggy bunnies, then this list was probably about two miles long.

"They're right, DiNozzo. Ten years, four different forces."

Tony frowned, "But that's _a lot_ of names and people to remember, Boss."

Gibbs ignored him, "Ziva, take the women. McGee, you take the men. I'll pull case files of the ones DiNozzo put away who are on the list." His team scattered as they received their assignments, and he bent over Tony's half-completed list.

"But wait a minute, you never do anything," Tony whined, sounding half surprised, half confused. Gibbs head-slapped him out of reflex, "Because you're…such a good delegator." Knew there was a reason he kept the guy around. Did Tony really think it so surprising that he would be personally invested in his case? In his protection?

Apparently so.

That bothered him.

Just then, the elevator dinged, and Fornell stepped out.

"Uh-oh," Abby said.

He understood. Really, he did. Fornell had a job to do, and the case needed to be solved.

It didn't make it any easier.

Thank God that he had managed to make sure Fornell was the one who received the case. Otherwise he wasn't sure he could just hand DiNozzo over like this.

"Tony," He started, "Fornell is going to question you."

Tony started to stand. "You mean interrogate me." Tony's voice had a hard edge to it that was unusual for him.

"Question," he corrected, then because he knew that Tony would be needing a little direction right about now, he whispered, "Draw it out."

Tony stood back and gave the lightest of nods.

And as he walked away, Gibbs made sure to return it.

* * *

In another life, Tony would have made an excellent lawyer.

That's what Gibbs decided to take away from this particular incident. That, and Tony did not do well with stress.

His display at the prison was…disturbing.

Not to mention…if he hated sailors so much thanks to his mother, why the hell had he joined NCIS?

Yeah, Gibbs was starting to realize that Tony's 'deep-seeded psychological issues' were a lot deeper than he had previously thought. Openly announcing neglect at crime scenes was just the tip of the iceberg.

But after a while, his agent seemed to calm down some. "I'm not getting out of this one, am I boss?"

Tony sounded so…dejected. So unlike himself. Gibbs did the only thing he knew would snap him out of it.

He didn't say anything, just raised his finger and signaled for Tony to come over to him.

His agent complied, eyes still slightly crazed from his outburst.

Gibbs head-slapped him.

Tony saw it coming. He knew that his agent had. But he stood there and took it, just like Gibbs knew he would.

"Thank you, Boss." Tony whispered. Gibbs smiled. For whatever reason, Tony had come to take the oft-come head-slaps to mean that Gibbs was still willing to keep him around. Still willing to work on his very, _very_ deep issues.

Gibbs nodded, and tapped Tony's chin before leaving.

He had to get DiNozzo out of there. Man really would go crazy in prison.

* * *

"I don't suppose you want this?" DiNozzo flipped the case open to reveal his newly awarded medal.

He glanced at it, not overly impressed. It was a hunk of metal. What, was it supposed to remind him of his past actions when he was old and gray?

Picturing DiNozzo's reaction to that particular statement, he told his mental version of DiNozzo to shut the hell up.

But as he thought about it…how did _DiNozzo_ end up with the medal anyways? It almost would have made more sense for Ducky to collect it for him, or better yet, for Jen to hold it for him.

But considering that DiNozzo had it…Tony must have collected it at the conference. He had probably made his way up to the platform from the very back of the room (which was probably intentional. Tony did have a tendency toward overtly dramatic gestures) and accepting the award for him. He was sure that Tony had done it in typical DiNozzo fashion-kid had probably had a speech prepared or something-and, ironically, no one else would have thought it odd. At all.

Which meant that everyone would be under the impression that he and Tony were somehow closer than he and his other subordinates.

It made sense in some ways. Tony was his SFA. He had been on 'Team Gibbs' (or so Abby had dubbed them) longer than anyone else to date-he had actually just passed the five year mark, beating Stan by a few months now. And unlike Stan, Tony showed no signs of growing tired of Gibbs at this point. In fact, Tony steadily seemed more and more at home here. More comfortable. He had even started to wear more casual clothes to work again, something he hadn't done since Kate's death.

It meant the kid was healing.

Gibbs looked back at the medal he was supposed to want. He didn't see the point.

Something in his gaze must have told Tony as much, because he nodded and said, "I'll get rid of it."

Gibbs smiled a little, glad that Tony's strange ability to understand exactly what he was saying without needing words was still functioning after the stress of the last few weeks. Last few months, really. He wondered, not for the first time, where that came from-Tony's Gibbs ESPN, that is. No one, not even his oldest friend, Ducky, or his mentor, Mike Franks, read him quite so clearly as Tony did.

He decided it didn't matter a whole lot.

"Go home DiNozzo. It's late. Get some sleep."

Tony nodded and spread his palms out on his armrests. "Yeah, I'm just finishing up a couple things."

Gibbs looked at him for another second. That sounded…evasive, somehow. If he found out later that Tony had pulled an unnecessary all-nighter again, he was going to head-slap the agent into next week.

But he did trust Tony to take care of himself, at least a little, so Gibbs didn't push it. "Your flowers are dead."

Tony grimaced and nodded, and Gibbs suddenly had a mental image of Abby gifting Tony with the flower bouquet. No wonder DiNozzo had kept it. He couldn't deny Abby anything.

He didn't say anything more, simply walked away. But before he got onto the elevator he glanced back at his subordinate just in time to see him drop the gray box into his desk drawer. And was that…a key? Had DiNozzo just locked his medal in his desk safe?

He was…surprised to say the least. Those safes were meant to hold their firearms while at the office. No one on his team actually used them to that purpose, as their side arms were always on them. McGee put his wallet inside, Ziva put extra ammo and weaponry in hers, and until today, Gibbs had thought Tony did the same.

That DiNozzo would think to keep something that was so meaningless to Gibbs in a safe was…surprising. And odd. It also made him wonder where his other medals were, and then he realized that he was probably looking the answer in the face.

He wondered why.

Maybe…maybe it was because…in their own way…the medals were memories. Blown out of proportion, maybe. What he considered undeserved praise, yes. But they were memories. Solid, visual reminders of memories. And DiNozzo was all about the visual stuff.

But there was almost more to it than that.

It was like…DiNozzo was _saving_ his memories for him.

Nah.

He ignored the feeling in his gut that said his hunch was correct, and that he might need something to remind him one day.

And he didn't even acknowledge the feeling that maybe DiNozzo's gut was telling him the same.

* * *

"Boss that's the wrong direction according to the GPS fix." McGee warned.

Gibbs shook his head, "Not according to DiNozzo, he said follow the money."

And he'd trust Tony over technology any day.

McGee didn't look pacified, but he didn't argue either.

Gibbs didn't care either way.

* * *

He was going to die.

It was not, by any means, a new revelation. He had contemplated his own death many times before, and usually with about this level of calm. So what if he died? He wasn't going to leave anybody behind, and someone had to make sure their captive actually diffused the bomb, as she said she would.

But looking over his shoulder, he saw Tony and Ziva still standing there.

And they didn't seem too intent on moving, which meant that they were going to die too.

Well that was just unacceptable.

"Get a clear distance away from here," Gibbs ordered.

Tony looked like he had to refrain from scoffing. "I don't care how hard you whack me, Boss. I'm not going anywhere."

Ziva, obviously feeling braver due to Tony's statement, piped in too. "Nor am I."

Gibbs nearly growled in frustration. Of all the times to prove their loyalty, Tony and Ziva chose _now_? When they're all about to die? What was dying with him supposed to prove?

Then he thought about that statement a little more and felt somewhat ashamed of himself.

Tony had never had anything stable. Not once in his entire life. The longest he'd held onto one place before his job at NCIS was college, and Gibbs had a feeling he'd only made it because there were those oh-so-distracting frat parties every weekend that took his mind off of it. Tony wasn't _used_ to stable. But now that he had it, Gibbs realized that he had latched onto it with all he had.

And apparently, Gibbs was a big enough part in his life now that Tony was willing to die for him.

Not that this loyalty surprised Gibbs very much. He had known from the very beginning that Tony was, inexplicably _loyal_ to those who earned it.

Ziva, though she had different reasons for needing the NCIS lifestyle, also valued loyalty. She shot her brother for not having it, after all. And on this particular matter, she seemed to be emulating Tony.

It…awed him…somewhat, that there were people willing to lay down their lives for him.

Funny that the very quality that had caught his eye in the first place might very well get Tony and his partner killed.

So there was only one real response in this situation.

"If we survive this, you're both fired."

* * *

As he watched the poor, broken family leave, Gibbs realized that there was only one more thing that could be done that day.

He took a deep breath and prepared himself for what he was about to say.

"Tony…Ziva…what happened back there with the bomb, I want you both to know-"

"You don't have to say it, Boss," Tony interrupted, "We know how you feel about us." The man said confidently, and for once with an air of seriousness that he rarely held. Gibbs gave him something of an incredulous look. DiNozzo might know, due to his strange, uncannily perceptive insight into what Gibbs was thinking at all times, but he seriously doubted that the rest of the team did.

"Gibbs we're a team," Ziva added, "It's what we do."

Gibbs looked between his two subordinates incredulously. Once upon a time, no one had been able to tell what he was thinking. Now he had not only Tony doing it, but Ziva as well (though he suspected that Ziva did so more through reading what Tony was thinking).

He wasn't entirely sure he liked it.

But there was no going back now.

He liked his team. He liked the dynamic that they all shared. And he liked how well they worked together. Even if it wasn't permanent (Ziva was a liaison officer, after all. She would go back to Mossad one day), he liked that there was…something _more_ to this team.

Damn it. He was becoming sentimental. Maybe DiNozzo was right about him getting old.

But above all…he felt…touched. In a way he hadn't really felt since Shannon and Kelly…like…family…

He shook himself. More like touched in the head.

Even so, his team currently felt more like family than subordinates. It was strange and…good at the same time. But that only made him want to protect them more.

So there was really only one response to this whole ordeal. One that would (hopefully) prevent the future endangerment of his team.

"I was going to say, If either one of you two wing-nuts ever disobey a direct order again I'll kill you myself."

He walked away, and didn't have to look back to know that Ziva and McGee currently wore utterly baffled expressions, and Tony was grinning like a madman.

His suspicions were only confirmed when he heard Tony laughing lightly behind him. And he really wasn't surprised when Tony said, "That's our boss."

Uncanny insight indeed.

* * *

He raised an eyebrow when he caught sight of Tony's favored reading material. That definitely wasn't pertinent to the case.

Tony jumped up when he heard Gibbs's voice. "Hey Boss, I was just about to call you."

Gibbs rolled his eyes. Of course he was. That's why he was reading GSM. Again. "What a coincidence. I'm just about to put my boot up your-"

Tony cut him off. Which was annoying, but Tony almost always had a good reason for it. "Got a lead. Found an electric bill in one of the boxes. An industrial space in Anacostia three miles from the strip club where the Mercedes was stolen."

Gibbs looked over the paper his agent had just handed him, and had the sinking feeling that he wouldn't have noticed this if he had been the one looking. Not that this was surprising. Tony was almost unnaturally observant, which caused intense curiosity, which led to one of the best investigative minds Gibbs had ever worked with. But why did Tony feel the need to act so…silly and stupid all the time? Earlier today he had been competing with McGee over credit. Tony was _good_ at this job. Why didn't he show that all of the time if he wanted recognition?

Gibbs frowned as he thought of that. Now that he thought about it, Tony had been acting far less juvenile lately. Not that he wasn't childish or anything (Hadn't he just stated that he was still competing with McGee over credit?). But it was just…mellower. And it seemed forced. The last six months had been hard. Ziva was still adjusting to America, and was dealing (though probably not very healthily) with Ari's death and her part in it. The rest of them were still struggling with Kate's death, and all of the consequences that had resulted from it. Tony had still been in rehab for four months, and Gibbs was trying to make sure his agents didn't get thrown in jail. Not to mention the multiple close calls they had all experienced. It was quite possible that Tony was hurting more than he let on.

But that would have to wait for now. He had a body to find, and some weird voodoo guy to track down.

"Ziva," Gibbs barked, "McGee. Go check it out."

The two junior agents scrambled up from their heaps of paper to get to the elevator.

Tony, on the other hand, walked over to his desk, looking a little unsure of what he was supposed to be doing now. True to form, Tony seemed to take Gibbs's last orders into consideration and reached for the boxes again.

Gibbs frowned. Ziva was right. That lawyer lady (rule #13, never, ever involve lawyers) had probably already cleared out any useful information concerning this case, even after telling her some of what was going on. They had been lucky Tony was so observant, or they wouldn't have caught the lead. But he seriously doubted that they would be able to find anything else. Plus, having Tony sit around the office with nothing to do was bound to get on his nerves in about two seconds.

And the other reason…Tony was more like Gibbs than he would ever, ever admit. And if Tony really was trying to keep up the 'good-natured jokester' act, then that would be easier to do if his brain was taken up by the case. At least, if you were Tony and put almost zero effort into a persona, it was. And the best way to do that was to make Tony get into the field.

Resigning himself to attempting to figure out the agent later, Gibbs called for him.

"Tony," The man in question looked up, a smile forming on his lips, and Gibbs realized that the man already knew what Gibbs was going to tell him to do. "Go on," he sighed, pretending to be slightly exasperated, "supervise."

Tony grinned and fled.

* * *

He found Tony playing basketball.

In all honesty, he had stopped questioning Tony's methods a long time ago. They were always effective, however odd they seemed.

When Tony fell flat on his back (foul, by the way), Gibbs could see that the younger man had twisted his ankle and he would have winced in sympathy, had he felt the need. He had seen his agent run around full tilt after being shot. Multiple times. He could handle a twisted ankle.

All the same, it was probably best that he stop DiNozzo now, before he got up and tried to play again.

He walked over to his fallen agent and bent down to give the appearance of looming over the man. In actuality, he did this very little, seeing as Tony was taller than him. This provided a nice opportunity.

"Are you having fun, DiNozzo?" He asked sardonically.

"Ah," Tony groaned, "All done interviewing Danforth's CO?"

Gibbs frowned at the deflection. And the level tone that Tony had used when he had been wincing just a moment ago. "You done interviewing his platoon?" he could ignore Tony's ankle as long as it wasn't going to be a problem.

"Nothing builds a report like a good game of ball!" Tony said half cheerfully and half painfully, as he set himself on the task of standing while he spoke.

Well he stood fine. As soon as he tried to take a step though, he yelped in pain and started to fall.

Gibbs caught him before he dropped two inches.

Tony tensed and stood for a moment. Gibbs knew why.

He hated being touched.

It was something that he had discovered early on. Tony didn't like pats on the back, punches to the shoulder. He barely even tolerated it when he passed off reports or paperwork and their fingers touched for an instant. Gibbs had thought it was ironic that this man, who constantly bragged of his sex-life, had such an issue with non-romantic human contact. Gibbs would never call himself a touchy person-he left that job to Abby, thank you-but DiNozzo seemed to have an honest fear of it.

Gibbs let go of his shoulders as soon as the other man was balanced, and grabbed him by the elbow instead.

Tony did tolerate human contact-but only from people he trusted implicitly, or when he had no other choice. Gibbs decided not to ruminate too much on which situation was proving itself true at the moment.

When they got to the picnic bench, Gibbs let Tony sit and the man complied. As soon as a man came forward to wrap Tony's ankle, the SFA started giving him the SITREP. Gibbs paced in the background in order to burn a little energy.

The info was, as always, ridiculously detailed. Gibbs really wanted to know how Tony could get such great information while seemingly goofing off. It really was an incredible contradiction.

He also wanted to know exactly how bad Tony's ankle was.

Earlier it really hadn't seemed to bother him so much. Now he was wincing every five seconds and yelping like a drowned cat. Which meant earlier it had hurt like an SOB and now it wasn't bothering him so much.

Finally, the medic was finished, as well as the debriefing. "Put an icepack on that," The slightly disgruntled medic ordered, "Fifteen on-"

"Fifteen off. I know the drill." Snapped DiNozzo. He always did get a bit rude around anyone connected to the medical field. All except Ducky, anyway.

"Oh, it's real swollen, I don't think I'm going to be able to walk on this thing Boss-"

Deciding that this really was a cry for attention, Gibbs yanked him to his feet before letting go.

DiNozzo simply switched gears. "Ha! Look at that!" realizing that Tony was a little bit injured after all, and that no, he would not let him fall on his face, Gibbs threw one of his agents arms over his head. "Look, it's a miracle." He said somewhat guiltily. Gibbs was just glad he wasn't complaining about being touched again. He was lucky the first time, but now Tony seemed to have expected it. He didn't tense up at all and actually leaned into him a little.

Gibbs knew the amount of trust Tony had to have in a person before he let them in like that.

"Yeah," he said, mostly to ward off the emotion, but he also wanted Tony to realize that that trust was returned, at least a little. "Loyal as a St. Bernard."

Tony returned the "yeah," sentiment, looking briefly uncomfortable before his face relaxed. "Always wanted to get one of those till I found out they didn't come with that barrel of whiskey around their neck."

Gibbs smiled a little, translating the brief conversation in his head.

_I trust you, you know._

_Same to you._

* * *

Cody walked over to the window again.

It wasn't that he had some ridiculously rosy view of the world. Gibbs actually wasn't sure if they could get Cody out of the classroom with the other kids. But something wasn't right here. This kid…he only seemed to be getting more and more agitated, which shouldn't happen once he had control over the situation. Which he did. With the bomb.

So why was Gibbs so positive that Cody couldn't die?

He wasn't sure. It was a gut thing.

Cody flipped the blinds open, a perfectly decent amount of space for any sniper to get a bullet through. Gibbs froze.

At this moment, Tony was being told that there was a clear shot. That he could end this…

Gibbs wasn't entirely sure what he would do.

Tony had great instincts. It was one of the things that had drawn Gibbs toward him in the first place. But he wasn't used to relying solely on them. Tony was much more inclined toward following the rules, except when it went against his morals. And this situation was nothing new to Tony. History stated that Tony would do it, if deemed necessary.

But then again, if Tony's gut wasn't screaming right now, then Gibbs would eat his badge.

Fifteen seconds.

_Come on…don't do it…_

Thirty seconds.

Cody backed away from the window and moved on.

Gibbs stifled a sigh of relief.

_Good work, Tony._

* * *

"DiNozzo! Where the hell have you been?"

There wasn't any real malice in the words, or even any kind of warning. Tony seemed to realize it too.

DiNozzo had been doing this a lot lately. He would go off tracking down his own leads, then when he finally showed up, he blew the case wide open. But he wouldn't tell anyone when he left, or where he was going. He'd just be gone, and would show up some time later. It was getting to be a little bit annoying. Then again, this was DiNozzo, and not a junior agent, so Gibbs would see what he had to say before getting angry about it.

At the moment, Tony seemed both relaxed and confident-good signs. It meant that he found something.

"I come bearing gifts!" Tony proclaimed, Three white boxes in his hands, "Spent the night at Rock Creek Park, and I found these when they drained the pond." He opened up the boxes after setting them on his superior's desk.

Ziva expressed her appreciation for them, especially the last one "Whoa! That's a _big_ one…"

Gibbs glanced at the guns, but was more interested in Tony's process. Part of the reason he had hired Tony was his refusal to be intimidated, and his independence. Lately, both of those traits had been making an appearance more often than usual. He glanced at the man, who was still standing proudly in front of his desk.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow and walked around the side of the desk. "Are you expecting an 'Atta boy'?"

Tony pouted. "Well it would be nice…"

The guy had just spent an entire night in a cold park, waiting to retrieve the probable murder weapons. Asking his boss to say 'good job' probably wasn't too much to ask.

Gibbs brought his hand up to Tony's head. The man flinched on reflex, long used to Gibbs's head slaps. With a grin, Gibbs started stroking the back of Tony's head instead.

"Atta boy," he drawled. Tony looked moderately confused, and all sorts of uncomfortable.

"I was just doing my job, Boss." He said somewhat warily.

"I know that." Gibbs snapped before walking away. But he didn't get far before he caught the smile on Tony's face. It wasn't his fake, megawatt grin that he used to charm people (mostly women). It was Tony's real smile, which was much softer, and less…shmoozy than his other one.

Gibbs grinned. Tony might be becoming more independent, and more self-sustaining, but the kid would always desire attention.

Then again, maybe it was time he thought about recommending Tony for a Team Leader position. The kid held the record for lasting as Gibbs's agent (five and a half years), plus six years as a cop before that. He himself had had less experience when he became team leader.

Gibbs grinned even wider as he realized how frustrating it would be to have Tony as a team leader. He would disappear all the time, not telling his team where he was going, and the poor subordinates would have an endless stream of movie references that wouldn't be cut off by any merciful superior. Those poor agents wouldn't know what hit them.

He was also pretty sure that DiNozzo's solve rate would be about as high as his own.

One thing was for sure. Tony was quickly becoming more of an equal to Gibbs than a subordinate.

And…he was glad for it.

* * *

He was _done_.

There wasn't much more of this he could take. The constant anger, the guilt…he couldn't handle it. Not anymore. Maybe that other version of him could, but that other version of him knew what it meant to be an NCIS agent, knew fifteen more years of pain, of sacrifice…he didn't. And he couldn't do this.

Besides, Franks had obviously helped him pick up and continue with life after the last time. Who's to say he couldn't now?

He went to his desk, acutely aware of the Director watching from the staircase. Like she was silently begging him to reconsider.

As far as he was concerned, there was nothing else to consider.

He opened the drawer that he sort of remembered putting his gun in, only to find it empty.

He felt Tony's eyes snap onto him, and the younger man stood.

"Oh, uh…I got it Boss." He held up his gun and badge so Gibbs could see. He stared. "I got it from the medics when…" The younger man trailed off, seeming to realize that Gibbs didn't need any specifics from the incident.

He reached out and took the gun and badge from his SFA's hand. "Appreciate it," he said quietly. Tony didn't walk away, seeming to realize that he had more to say.

There's one word that constantly came to mind when he thought of Tony.

Trust.

He had trusted this man implicitly, as much as he now trusted Franks.

He would do well.

He stepped around the desk, towards the younger man. He just looked at him expectantly, seeming to know that there was something he wanted to say.

This wouldn't be easy. Not for any of them.

But he had no qualms about this.

Tony, from what he had seen, and from what he could remember, was a _good_ agent. He was smart, and well-trained, and at this point, a better investigator than he himself was. Tony would do well, he was sure of it.

"You'll do."

A small light of understanding entered Tony's eyes before shock took over.

He handed the gun and badge over.

They weren't his anymore.

He laid a hand on Tony's shoulder, and made it official. "It's your team now."

And if he was any kind of boss, Tony would know exactly what that meant, and would know exactly how much responsibility it was to be looking after other's lives constantly. He would know. He might make mistakes, but Tony would still know.

Gibbs had a feeling that Tony _did_ know.

Behind the shock that he saw…there was a certain understanding that had nothing to do with the immediate situation. He could see that Tony knew why he had to do this, why he had to leave. Maybe no real agreement was there, but Tony seemed to know why, and that was enough.

All through his goodbyes, he could feel their eyes on his back. Could feel their confusion, their denial. And at the same time, he knew they understood.

And as he left, there was only one thing he could think to say.

"Semper Fi."

If he was any kind of Marine, they would know what that meant too.

* * *

Wheww! that was a _long_ one, folks. There was a lot of stuff for Tony and Gibbs's relationship in this season, but most of it happened seperately, and apart from Gibbs, and like I said, I want to try and keep it in Gibbs's point of view. So we missed out on a lot as far as this fic goes.

Tony grows a lot more independent throughought this season. He took over for Gibbs like six times, and that was the reason I included the sceen from _Iced_. I really wanted to address the changes in Tony, and that was the best time I could think of to do it.

Oh, for those of you who might be wondering, I'm not Kate's biggest fan. In fact, I harbor an intense dislike of her. But I absolutely adore Ziva, and I'm a Tiva fan, so that might show up a little bit in this. But I'll do my best to keep it strictly a Gibbs/Tony friendship/father-son type fic. Cuz they do have a more paternal relationship going there, especially as the series progresses.

And one other thing. In light of knowledge I already had of the series, I noticed _a lot_ of forshadowing that was being used here concerning Gibbs and his memory loss. Not least of which was the moment where Tony stored the medals away (that was utter genius, by the way). I did take a little artistic liberty on that, because obviously in the episode, it's not stated that Gibbs notices Tony saving his medal in his desk. But because he's Gibbs, it stands to reason that he knows anyway.

So here are the episodes (in order).

_Silver War_

_Honor Code_

_Frame Up_

_Frame Up_

_Frame Up_

_Model Behavior_

_Boxed In_

_Light Sleeper_

_Light Sleeper_

_Head Case_

_Family Secrets_

_Bait_

_Iced_

_Hiatus 2_


End file.
